Start Moving to Wake Up Early, Say Mike and Mike

"I don't think you can actually be prepared for anything before 5 o'clock," Golic says. Yet the demands of a daily 6 am to 10 am shift on ESPN Radio demands that Golic routinely wake up at 4:15 am – a torture, Golic notes, that he did not have to deal with even during the harshest preseason hazing as a former NFL player. He and Greenberg agree that the toughest hurdle for early risers is the first step.

"The mistake people make is laying in bed, thinking about how tired they are, but the most important thing is just to start moving," says Greenberg. His solution is to place his alarm clock far away enough from his bed that he is forced to shut if off. "I can't turn it off without getting up, which is critical." Once you're out of bed, the battle is essentially over. (Note: It helps to have a bedmate who will murder you if you don't get to the alarm fast.)